考研英语#2017-2025考研究生英语*经济学人*阅读#医改的闹剧

peter0223

Health reform
医疗改革
Medicare, the opera
医改的闹剧
Another election, another nonsensical fight over theelderly
又一场选举，又一场关于老年人的荒谬斗争
APRIL has been a cheerful month for the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.More than 7m Americans have signed up for private coverage through the law's exchanges and,by the end of February, more than 3m people had enrolled in Medicaid, the health programmefor the poor. According to the latest Gallup poll, America's share of uninsured has fallen to itslowest level since 2008. These figures are good news for anyone keen to expand healthcoverage. They may not be so helpful for the Democrats' election prospects.
四月对平价医疗法案(或者称其为奥巴马医改)来说是值得欢呼的一个月。截至二月末，已有超过七百万美国人通过法律交换签署了私人保险，以及超过三百万人参加了专为穷人设置的健康计划—医疗补助。根据盖洛普最新的调查显示，美国人未参加保险的比例已降至2008年以来的最低水平。这些数据对所有热衷扩大医保范围的人来说都无疑是个好消息。但对民主党竞选前景的改善可能没有太大裨益。
To understand why, consider another set of figures. More than 40m older Americans areenrolled in Medicare, the public-health programme for those aged 65 and older, with more than15m of them in private Medicare plans. These are reliable voters in elections. And Republicansare singing them the same aria again and again: Democrats are raiding their benefits to pay forObamacare.
看看另外一组数据便知原因。美国参加了医保的老年人数量已超过4千万，该医保是一项为65岁及以上的老年人制定的公共健康计划，其中超过一千五百万人同时参与了个人医保计划。这些人都是在选举中所能够依赖的选民。共和党人频频高唱同一叹调咨询QQ、微信：2544906。其中，1560亿美元来自医疗照顾优先计划(Medicare Advantage)，该计划允许老年人使用公共资金购买个人健康计划。多年来，政府为每个人在个人健康计划上的花费要高于传统医保。私人保险公司以给予额外好处或降低保费的形式，对消费者提供额外补贴。奥巴马医改试图将个人支付带回传统医保的正轨上来。
This was not a radical idea, but it is politically controversial nevertheless. MedicareAdvantage is increasingly popular—about three in ten Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in aprivate plan. Insurers argue that Obamacare's cuts, combined with other measures, will forcethem to raise prices or cut benefits.
这个想法并不激进，但在政治上却引起争议。医疗照顾优先计划愈发流行，约有三成的医保受益者参加了个人计划。保险公司抱怨到，奥巴马医改中与其他措施相配合的缩减政策，会迫使他们提价或削减福利。
Last month's special election in Florida was a cautionary tale for Democrats. “To pay forObamacare, Washington is forcing seniors to endure deep cuts to Medicare Advantage,” purredan advertisement. “Sadly, Alex Sink supports these cuts.” Ms Sink lost her campaign. Notsurprisingly, Republicans as well as many anxious Democrats implored CMS not to lowerpayments. In February 40 senators wrote to CMS to ask as much. On April 3rd 29congressional Democrats and Republicans sent their own letter.
上月佛罗里达的补选一事，值得民主党警惕。一则竞选标语这样写道咨询QQ、微信：2544906的赔偿金，同时要求重新审理，以确定陪审团存在争议的13款设备，三星究竟应该支付多少赔偿金。